Help with process of purchasing first road bike | GTAMotorcycle.com

Help with process of purchasing first road bike

Goodyer

New member
Hi Guys!

Looking for some advice buying a bike as an M2 rider. I am looking specifically for a 2003+ SV650S full fairing. There are several to choose from on kijiji and very few in dealerships it seems...

My problem is I dont have a car and live downtown Toronto. I have seen and test rode a few SVs and have been using zipcar to do this (expensive) while unable to qualify the condition of the bike accurately do to my lack of experience giving me cold feet. Most bikes are 1 hour or further drive.

It seems every private sale refuses to do a safety unless they get paid for their time. The last guy wanted a $500 deposit for the bike to have the safety done which was a red flag. To me this is part of selling the bike and I dont get why people cant spend a couple hours on a weekend prepping to sell. This is making it difficult since I need to visit the bike and then figure out how to transport it if not already having the safety done. It seems if a bike had its safety done and it looked good I could essentially get plates/insure it right after the sale and ride it home.

Can anyone lend some advice on the best way to approach a purchase in my position? Should I only consider bikes with the safety done or should I suck it up and buy one that looks (to my knowledge) good and then rent some type of truck and ramp to transport it some place? Is there perhaps some service that can take care of inspecting or maybe transportation of a bike?

Many thanks!
 
this time of year, a seller looking for a deposit to do the safety is understandable
the certificate if only valid for 30 days
if they spend the money and bike doesn't sell the cost of the safety is lost
so they are asking you to put up some dough in case you back out of the sale

sounds like you are expecting to find a good used safetied bike in one visit and ride it home?
if you need that kind of service, a dealer is for you, private sales are more work
 
You can buy a bike and get someone like Motolimo or infernobuster (on this forum) to tow it home or rent a truck or van and do it yourself. Lots of other options.
 
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my 2 cents, literally what its worth. if your new to bikes and dont have a lot of experience, find one the owner will cert or work with you to cert. Its never a guarantee of engine and tranny, but the SV is known to be pretty sound product. At least getting a cert bike means you dont find expensive tires, head bearings , exhaust stuff ect. on your dime.

If a guy wants $500 to cert the bike, offer him $100 (the cost of the cert) . If its a problem for him then he's not a motivated sellor. Or if you really want the bike give him the $500 based on a clean pass and put everything on paper, signed by both. Its not hard.

If a guy wont cert a bike , just says 'it'll pass no problem' , walk away. he's lazy, all the maintaince he says he did probably never happened either.
 
Pm Frekeyguy on this forum. He does mechanical work on bikes, is very knowledgeable, has a truck and trailer to pickup and deliver customers bikes and is usually willing to help someone check out a bike. Note that it won't be free, but likely cheaper than other options and you get an experienced eye scoping out your purchase.

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If you test ride a bike, and you like it, buy it. Go to nearest MTO desk and get a temp tag. Ride home, or to your preferred mechanic.
 
If you test ride a bike, and you like it, buy it. Go to nearest MTO desk and get a temp tag. Ride home, or to your preferred mechanic.

May not be that simple. He needs insurance to get a temp tag and depending on your bike/company they may require a safety certificate before they will agree to insure it.
 
OP, I was in the exact same position 4 years ago. I rented a cargo minivan from Zipcar to go see bikes, then when I decided on one the seller was kind enough to tag along for the ride to help me unload it. You may not be so lucky and need to bring a friend along, but either way loading/unloading a 450lb bike with two people is surprisigly not that hard. Bring a bunch of ratcheting straps.


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Personally (and I mean that) any unsafetied bike is a luxury, as it represents a discount that is either already built into the price or one that I can argue for. I am fairly confident in my ability to conduct an ad-hoc safety inspection, though.

Honestly, I think your best course of action is maybe see if you can talk someone from here & near you into coming with you to look at a bike or two. Also it's important to keep in mind that as long as the bike is currently plated, you can generally get a temporary trip permit to ride it for a week or two to take care of the safety (you will still need to insure it, though). You will be able to do this with most bikes you see for sale.
 
...If a guy wont cert a bike , just says 'it'll pass no problem' , walk away. he's lazy, all the maintaince he says he did probably never happened either.

Determining whether a bike will pass safety or not is quite easy with a simple check list.
Many sellers don't offer the certificate because their vehicles are not insured any longer and as we all know, safety expires so re-doing it every 36 days is not for everyone (time + money, renting a trailer, etc.). If the asking price is right then there is no reason to fear.
 
May not be that simple. He needs insurance to get a temp tag and depending on your bike/company they may require a safety certificate before they will agree to insure it.
Not saying it doesn't happen but I've owned a lot of bikes and other vehicles, never had insurance request a safety.

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Lots of advice here already. The only thing I'll add is:
1. Avoid the 2003 model year SV650. It was the first year of the "pointy" design. Not that there's anything wrong with the 2003 model, but there were some revisions in 2004, making 2003 a bit unique with parts that are incompatible with 2004+.
2. The SV650 is generally as reliable as an anvil, and it's easy to work on. If you find one in good shape, it should last you a long time.
 
Wow, so many replies in a day. Love this forum!

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, this is valuable advice for me during this process. I'm going to see if my insurance will cover it for temp place, and if not, ill look at one of the guys mentioned above to inspect/transport the bike for a fee. If that doesn't work out ill try the truck/van rental myself with a friend.
 
Not saying it doesn't happen but I've owned a lot of bikes and other vehicles, never had insurance request a safety.

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I have had insurance request a copy of the safety certificate in the past. As I am generally awarding my insurance to the lowest bidder I didn't make a fuss about it
 
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As far as I know, safety is a government requirement. Why would insurance need it?
Also not saying it never happened but it never happened to me and I've owned about 20 vehicles.

+2 Lots of vehicles, safety is needed by the MTO to get plates. Insurance never asked for it.

Except for a structural safety in the case of a repaired car...completely different. Had a company ask for a structural safety for a written off bike once...it doesn't exist. Even the guys that do it for cars and rides, never heard of it being done. Suspect the ins. co. rep was uninformed.
 
I've never had an insurance company ask for safety in 18 years of driving, especially since without a tow truck, you need insurance to get a safety.
 
Determining whether a bike will pass safety or not is quite easy with a simple check list.


it probably is for you, and other handy guys that aren't looking at a first bike. My wife couldn't point at a head bearing and she's been around bikes for years.
 
Oh this should also go without saying, but don't even look at anything that does't have the ownership. If somebody lost an ownership, it only costs $20 and is super easy to replace... for the registered owner, so if somebody doesn't have it, you can be 100% guaranteed that they are not the registered owner, with a 70% chance it's stolen.

Also, when they produce the title, make sure the vin matches the bike, oh and see if the address on it matches the location of the bike, if not then ask for ID.

Can't be too careful.
 

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